Dehabitualize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To remove or reverse a previously established habit or routine; to cause an individual or group to cease familiar behavioral patterns; to disrupt or undo customary practices
2. The act of breaking or undoing habitual behaviors; causing someone to abandon usual actions or repeated behaviors; eliminating entrenched routines or customs
3. Disrupting learned or repeated conduct by removing ingrained habits; changing habitual actions to something unfamiliar; undoing the effects of conditioning on behavior

Etymology: "Dehabitualize" is a verb built from "habitualize," which itself comes from "habitual," derived from Late Latin "habitualis," meaning relating to habit or customary condition. The English "habit" traces back through Old French "habit" to Latin "habitus," the state or condition of having or being something, from "habere," to have or hold. So a habit is literally something one has or holds, a condition one carries around. The prefix "de-" in "dehabitualize" reverses the action of "habitualize," meaning to make something customary through repetition. Dehabitualizing is therefore the undoing of that process: breaking a routine or unlearning a conditioned response. The word is a modern formation from English parts rather than an ancient term, and its exact first date of use is uncertain.

Synonyms: break habit, unaccustom, disaccustom

Antonyms: habitualize, accustom, adapt